diaper business

Over the past few years I've had several moms ask me about cloth diapers. So after responding many a-time with the same basic information, I thought it might be beneficial to compile my thoughts and opinions more 'officially'.

We used cloth diapers with our daughter and really liked them. There are the obvious drawbacks or minor inconveniences, like having the forethought to make sure they're all cleaned at the appropriate times, and washing out poopy diapers in the toilet. But overall they've saved us SO much money and they are just plain CUTE!

I know a lot of people really like the all-in-one types (like fuzzibunz) because they are pretty simple and work just like disposable ones. They're also easier when babies start moving and crawling/walking because it's just one step to get them diapered. We chose not to use these because they're more expensive (though in the long run I'm sure they're still much cheaper than buying disposables for 2 and half years). We have 4 of this type that I actually bought off of Craigslist (maybe gross, but has worked for us), a different brand called smartipants. We like these all right, but they tend to leak a bit, so we only use them at home.

G-diapers are another popular brand that people like because they're simple, a bit more affordable and aren't as bulky (cloth diapers make babies' butts BIG but again, CUTE). You can buy these at Target which is nice because you can put them on your registry. We have 2 of these, and really they just leak too much for me to say much good about them. Other people really like them, but they're my least favorite in my stash.

Ultimately we like the prefold, trifold diapers that our moms probably used. We found a great small company (Green Mountain Diapers) that makes them and ships them. They're the most economical. We bought 3 different sizes of these, and she's was in the 2nd size for a year and a half. To cover them we bought about 15 one-size diaper covers from a brand called Kawaii. And we used a snappi to fasten them instead of diaper pins. Eventually, when she got to the point that she was only wearing diapers at bed time, we abandoned the snappi altogether. We just folded the tri-folds into a long rectangle, slid them into the cover and snapped her up.

Update: The Kawaii's have worked fine for us, but some of them have lost snaps over the last few years so I will have to replace them if we have another baby. In that case I'm totally buying a bunch from a Lancaster mom (called Zookaboos) who makes adorable covers that people really seem to like.

a gorgeous diaper cover made by Zookaboos!

A lot of our diapering stuff we actually found on Craigslist. Some of them were used (which I laundered facetiously) and others were simply diaper stashes that people intended to use but ultimately just ended up using disposables.

Oh, and we've used a special detergent for all our diapers that is gentler on her butt than regular detergent, and also doesn't leave any residue that would affect the absorbency.

Phewwwwwwwww....probably way more info than anyone actually wanted or needed, but there's that. I hope it helps!